Business Leadership: changing the story
Bold leadership will build the markets of the future
Markets are being reshaped by climate pressures, resource shocks, geopolitics and rapid innovation, challenging leaders to act with unprecedented speed and scale.
Yet within this turbulence lies opportunity. Business has the talent, assets, reach and innovation capacity to build cleaner, fairer and more resilient economies.
Companies that move early - by cutting exposure to carbon and resource intensive business models, scaling breakthrough technologies, and shaping new markets - build resilience and unlock growth.
Success begins with leadership that drives change within organisations and extends across supply chains, markets and the policy frameworks that shape them. By creating the conditions for innovation to scale, businesses can build commercially viable pathways to secure their long-term future - and that of the economies on which they depend. This demands conviction, bold decision-making and the confidence to act despite volatile politics and weak short-term incentives.
Lead the next era of business
The future will be built by leaders with the ambition to go further and faster: those impatient with the status quo, determined to be part of building something better. Their ambition builds momentum for market-wide change and positions their organisations to compete and thrive in more sustainable economies.
At CISL, through education, research, innovation and dialogue with policymakers, we equip leaders to turn that ambition into action - accelerating the businesses, markets and industries of the future.
Link to: Book an exploratory call to discuss how we can support your board or leadership team. Emma Cutting emma.cutting@cisl.cam.ac.uk
CISL Insights
Leadership podcasts
From 20 November tune into our podcast series What Next? Leadership Conversations for a Better Future. Hosted by our CEO, Lindsay Hooper and Investec’s Marc Khan these discussions tackle some of today’s most urgent questions — exploring new ways markets can genuinely serve people and the planet.
How we work with you
We help leaders build strategies, capabilities and partnerships that enable them to shape and succeed in the sustainable markets of the future:
Business leadership partnerships
We partner with leading businesses to translate ambition into action - co-designing programmes, testing innovation and scaling solutions across sectors
L’Oréal
We partnered with L’Oréal to launch a Sustainable Innovation Accelerator. Backed by a €100 million investment over five years, this initiative helps us scout, support and scale deployment-ready sustainability solutions across the beauty sector. Together with L’Oréal, we offer mentoring, pilots, peer-learning and innovation acceleration in areas like alternative materials, plastic waste reduction, circularity, climate-smart technologies and water resilience.
We partnered with The Crown Estate to co-create a “Living Lab” based in our Entopia Building, with the aim of fast-tracking sustainable innovation in the built environment. Together, we are experimenting with retrofits and new technologies, sharing data across buildings (including a new lab, amenity, and events space at Cambridge Business Park), and supporting a Nature Positive Solutions Accelerator. Our goal is to pilot, scale and embed greener building practices, benchmark performance, and enable more nature-friendly, low-carbon, and circular solutions across the UK’s built environment .
Boston Scientific
CISL and Boston Scientific are working together through a mix of educational programmes, applied research and strategic collaboration to explore new ways of partnering with healthcare providers. The initiative advances both organisations’ sustainability strategies by identifying opportunities to reduce environmental impact, create shared value and drive innovations that benefit patients and communities.
Leadership programmes
CISL works with senior executives, board members and emerging leaders who want to reshape business and build the markets of the future. Our programmes draw on leading faculty from the University of Cambridge, from those already creating radical shifts in their own business, and from those at the forefront of designing policy that delivers for the future.
- Location: Cambridge, Australia, Southern Africa, Asia
- Duration: 3 day residential programme
- Find out more about BSP
Business Sustainability Management
A supported on-line programme for those looking to develop their expertise, access tools and frameworks, and lead sustainability in their organisation.
- Location: Online
- Duration: 8-weeks, part-time
- Find out more about BSM
- Location: Residential programmes in Cambridge and Online
- Duration: 9 months – 3 years, part time
- Find out more about our Postgraduate Programmes
Leadership Labs
Immersive workshops for leaders at all levels to access cutting-edge insight and best practice on core topics including competitive sustainability, strategy and communication, and leadership and culture.
- Location: Cambridge
- Duration: 2 day residential programme
- Find out more about our Leadership Labs
Multigenerational Leadership for Sustainability
families seeking to evolve their legacy in a time of profound transformation.
- Location: Cambridge
- Duration: 5 day residential programme
- Find out more
